#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it in less than 140 characters?

A: A boy travels through a portal to Mars where he learns the planet's secret. A magical stop-motion animated film to delight children and adults.

#2: What do you want the Borrego FilmFestival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?

A: Based on the children’s book by author Nancy Guettier, Mermaids on Mars is a musical stop-motion animated film created with a talented veteran feature crew from films like Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars.

#3: What is your movie making background? Tell us about yourself.

A: Jon Peters is founder of Athena Studios, which focuses on stop-motion animation and visual effects. He first became interested in stop-motion animation when he saw Ray Harryhausen's work on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad as a child. It took 45 years for Jon to fully realize his dream to form a stop-motion studio, but as Jon says "the best things in life are worth waiting for,"

Jon started his career as an industrial designer and professional model-maker. His work as a producer has won numerous awards for his studio. Jon was an elected Board Member of the Northern California Chapter of the Visual Effects Society and is Producer of the stop-motion animated feature film Auntie Claus (currently in development).

#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?

A: Learning how to back into the budget of the film and use those constraints to drive the creative process.

#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?

A: The producer and Athena Studios are looking at turning Mermaids into an episodic children’s series. We would work on shows for that. We are also in development on a stop-motion feature film entitled Auntie Claus, based on the award-winning children’s book by the same name.